folks: any trails to ride that are OK for (no shocks) touring/mtn bikes?

[canali]

My girlfriend is getting into biking with me but doesn't yet know if she'd like to get into mtn biking...currently she's buying a surly long haul trucker (LHT) touring bike that has a great long wheelbase and 26" rims (sort of a take off of my all rounder, the classic Rivendell Atlantis)...

www.surlybikes.com/lht_comp.html

So considering that the Surly LHT
doesn't front or rear shocks and can't do
really nutty stuff** (she's also 44 and in great shape
by the way) are there still good off road trails (not only in greater van
the north shore but also in the interior and the island)
that one can recommend which would be just fine for such a bike?

**then again, alot of cross bike riders don't have shocks either and they ride some harsh stuff...sure not as extreme as DH, but you get the pic!

Thanks again everyone...
PS: I just joined NSRIDE.COM and plan to go on the ride tomorrow (sat april 20) with my Dekerf Generation HT
(yes, I'm considering a Santa Cruz Heckler, or Transition Preston or Norco Fluid for a real all mtn bike (even a stumpjumper) but for now will git my HT a go (haven't mtn biked at all, actually...am quite excited).

[heckler]

try the LSCR demonstration forest paved trail first

http://www.gvrd.bc.ca/water/LSCR.htm

and no - CBC isn't closed. this website needs to be updated.

[sridout]

The Delta Watershed is as about as beginner as it gets, but I really don't think that she will have a good time riding off road on a touring bike, fore-sure if she has never touched dirt with a bike. If she wants to try off road, some of the bike shops have demo mountain bikes. I am pretty sure that Different bikes have some. Start off right and she will probably like it. Start her off wrong and you will be riding without her. Good luck.

[heckler]

Start off right and she will probably like it. Start her off wrong and you will be riding without her. Good luck.


that's the truth!

[LeeLau]

I used to ride the UBC endowment lands trails on my road bike all the time. They're quite a friendly introduction to trails

[seeformiles]

I did a little googling and came across this:

The Vancouver Sun's 19 best bike trails (http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastlife/story.html?id=ad1add42-caf7-4a7a-a8e0-7a7cbdfda907), all of which would seem to be LHT-friendly.

I wonder what the public voted as no 20? The only mention of the Shore was the LSCR/Demo Forest.

[sanrensho]

I regularly ride a 'cross bike on some of the trails around LSCR. You can definitely ride Fisherman's, Twin Bridges and the climb up Bridle Path from Fisherman's to the Hyannis connector. Another option would be riding all the way up Fromme once the snow clears. Probably too harsh (coming down) on a 'cross bike, but likely fine with the beefier rims and tires on the Surly.

Pickings are pretty slim around Mt. Seymour, unless you want to mix up pavement and short trail sections.

[dawnchairy]

I second the UBC endowment lands. They're a great intro, to mountain biking. As is the the Delta watershed. There are some xc trails across the bottom of Seymour, but they're not LHT friendly.

[Rat]

actually the endowment lands on a rigid with 1.5''s at 80 PSI can be a blast. you can roll those trails so fast

[Smoke]

Yo wait a sec.....there seems to be a bit of a miscommunication here.

That Surly, while an excellent bike, is NOT a mountain bike of any kind. Its a dirt road bike. Great choice for touring, commuting, and riding on roads of all surfaces, but emphatically NOT a singletrack bike. You should have killer skills, an open mind, and a bit of a masochistic streak to consider riding trails on that rig.

Go rent or borrow a real mountain bike with 26" knobbies for any trail intro (shocks, rigid, whatever, just get at least a 2" tire on there), and then once you've gotten the idea across, re-evaluate the road bike application.

Lots of the above opinions come from riders with years of riding experience and deep, deep skill sets. I'd hate to see someone turned off the sport because of a simple disconnect on the concept.

Other than that, go ride the lower Seymour stuff. Bridle Path, Bottletop, that trail from Lillooet Rd to Premier St., the figure 8 in the LSCR, are all nice singletracks in the woods with a few challenges.

Even better, send the girl over to Kelli at Endless Biking for an intro to the sport. After a day or two there, she'll kick your ass.

[Knnn]

try the LSCR demonstration forest paved trail first

http://www.gvrd.bc.ca/water/LSCR.htm



I would second this and highly recommend it.

You can ride a paved road (no motorized traffic allowed) for about 9Km and then there is a lovely flat single track ride along the Seymour river for about 2km to the salmon hatcher immediately below the Seymour Dam. A great place to visit in it's own right. It can be done on any bike, no suspension required. My 8-10 year olds do it.

Coming back, you have the option of doing fisherman's Trail. It's a turn off the paved road at about the 6 km mark, pick up a trail map when you start. Fisherman's is a variable width dirt trail (combination of vehicle-width dirt road, single track, wood broad walk with a shallow continuous downward grade if coming back this way) that runs along the west side of the Seymour River. A great place for picnics in the summer. Once you get to a T junction with a bridge over the River on your left, you turn right up the hill (it's a good strenuous climb) back to the start of the Demonstration forest road.

Just going to the 6km mark and doing Fisherman's is about 14 km in total.

If you stick to the road and just go to the hatchery and back it's 22km.

Go to the hatchery and then return via Fisherman's is about 24 km and well worth it. Takes about 4 hours with the kids.

Njoy

[Smoke]

Oh, and you should check you specs on that bike too.

Those are 700c wheels, and without disc tabs you'll be in for a bit of a shock when you try mounting 26" rims on there.



**nevermind, I see the 26" option for smaller riders. Still.....I ride all over BC and apart from railbeds and dirt roads, this aint the rig for trails in this country.

[seeformiles]

**nevermind, I see the 26" option for smaller riders. Still.....I ride all over BC and apart from railbeds and dirt roads, this aint the rig for trails in this country.

That's why I was quite pleased to find the link I posted above - all 19 trails in it seem to be touring-bike friendly.

[Smoke]

That's why I was quite pleased to find the link I posted above - all 19 trails in it seem to be touring-bike friendly.

Uhhhh ... trails? The SeaWall is a trail?

1. paved road
2. paved path
3. dirt road
4. combo of paved and dirt roads
5. combo of paved and dirt roads plus some paths. Multi-use,so no going fast. Also pretty short.
6. roads
7. there are some trails on private property, but mostly rural roads.
8. paved road(closed to cars at least)
9. paved and dirt roads, some closed to traffic, some not.
10. road
11. railway grade, some of it paved, some of it in traffic
12. road
13 - 16 sure there's trails on the islands, but the article is referring to the road riding. It's nice road riding, but limited distances. They are islands, after all.
17.-19 The Kettle Valley Railway. It's good scenery, but pedaling in flat sand for hours can get sort of old.

I guess this is going to degenerate into the usual argument about semantics, but any thing that has either pavement, a graded railbed, or crushed blue gravel is not a trail in most books. A trail is usually thought to be singletrack, that is a single track made by a person or animal that is only one user wide. If you can drive a car on it, its a road.

I still say go rent a decent XC bike and get lost on Seymour or even better on 3 Blind Mice in Penticton. Then you'll be able to make the informed decision.

[coverider18]

i think renting a bike, or using a demo bike would be the best idea

[seeformiles]

Uhhhh ... trails? The SeaWall is a trail?

1. paved road
...
17.-19 The Kettle Valley Railway. It's good scenery, but pedaling in flat sand for hours can get sort of old.

Wow. ok... my definition of a mountain bike trail would match yours pretty much - but having read a few of his other posts I figured the original poster was asking for trails in the sense of 'off-road' riding. You know, trails suitable for a touring bike. But, it's semantics, as you say.

[canali]

hey thanks to everyone's opinions...I really appreciate them mucho, mucho.

BTW; went out yesterday w my Dekerf Generation HT ride for the first time ever with the NSride group (thanks, Sheldon and Nadia and others whos names I've missed!)

Had a great time...all about learning new skills so I will probably be taking those 'level 1 progression' courses offered by darren and kellie of ''endless biking''.

Second I had a really nice time meeting some super people over a brewski at Seymour Pub afterwords (thanks to Nadia and others involved in the prizes and such...great job!)... met a chap named Mike who, like me, also loves randonneuring and touring (he has a Marinoni Ciclo...a great bike!).

Hopefully more of this will happen, i,e, you meet riders who engage in other activities you also enjoy, i,e, randonneuring, skiing (etc) and you form more 'cross over' groups to further develop your friendships and social network.

See you guys later this week.

PS: a guy (JJ?) left me a message on my cell offering me a 15" Dekerf SL (hardtail) team frame for my gal (she's 5'2"/standover of 75 cm)...so I'll see what is the asking $$.

[Frost]

You could also try the Surrey Bike Park. There is a little of everything in this park. Good place to practice.
Frost